Chicago’s economic climate continued to trend upward throughout the first quarter of 2018, with unemployment down to 5.4 percent year-over-year, a 60-basis-points-drop. With this, the local commercial real estate engine continues to hum. And according to an Avison Young report, the I-55 Corridor is seeing a lot of that activity.

Lee & Associates has closed a fully leased industrial investment sale located at 2545 Millennium Drive in Elgin, Illinois. The 60,000-square-foot, three tenant-facility is situated on six acres and was constructed in 2007.

David Harker has been working in commercial real estate for more than 30 years. So when Harker, executive vice president for the central region of Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust, says that the industrial market today is as strong as he’s ever seen it, that means something.

Industrial Commercial Properties, a Cleveland-based commercial real estate development company, recently acquired 182 acres of land in Wixom, Michigan. The land was formerly the site of the Ford Wixom assembly plant.

ML Realty Partners has acquired a 55,120-square-foot industrial building at 31 South Mitchell Court in Addison, Illinois. The freestanding property, located in DuPage County, is immediately available for occupancy.

Lee & Associates has closed an industrial lease transaction for a 15,000-square-foot industrial space located at 381 Randy Road in Carol Stream, Illinois. The warehouse/distribution space comes with two drive-In docks with levelers.

Lee & Associates has closed a $1.325 million sale transaction for a 15,000-square-foot industrial building located at 163 Covington Drive in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Rick Anesi, vice president of Lee & Associates’ Illinois office, represented the buyer, ABM Flooring, an independent, full service commercial flooring contractor.

Principle Construction Corp. has completed a 10,500-square-foot office expansion for flooring distributor All Tile, Inc. at 855 Wood Dale Avenue in Wood Dale, Illinois. The construction added space to both sides of All Tile’s existing office areas. Also included in the expansion was a 2,107 square foot showroom, 800 square foot tool room and upgrades to all electrical, HVAC and fire alarm systems.

Arlington Heights, Illinois-based Entre Commercial Realty has brokered the lease of a 15,020-square-foot industrial facility at 1236 Hardt Circle in Bartlett, Illinois. The tenants is a foreign entity that is a subsidiary of a large Chinese manufacturing company.

Chicago-based Dayton Street Partners will develop a 116,000-square-foot speculative distribution center in Bensenville, Illinois, on behalf of Black Creek Group, LLC. Construction is set to begin in June with an expected delivery of spring 2019.

Colliers International | Chicago’s Patrick Turner, Tom Rodeno and Matthew Stauber represented Clear Height Properties in the purchase of a five-building, 666,079-square-foot, industrial portfolio in metro Chicago from American Landmark Properties. At the time of sale, the buildings were 85 percent leased to a roster of 77 tenants including Advocate Health, Amazon and Crawford Murphy & Tilly.

Nationally and in Chicago, developers are turning to construction, innovation and technology to meet tenant demand for industrial product. According to Avison Young’s Q1 2018 market overview, the U.S. industrial market, all 12 billion square feet of it, ended the first-quarter of 2018 with an impressive five percent vacancy rate overall.

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, are fundamentally changing how money changes hands. As their potential goes mainstream, it’s possible that commercial real estate may be among the top industries disrupted—in both the way we transact, and in the usage of surplus space. Picture an all-digital transaction closing, from deeds to funds and title filings. Picture a world without old-school tax stamps, and where wire transfers become the dinosaurs of electronic fund transfers.